Samsung’s Gear Glass to challenge Google’s specs with September launch

Samsung is set to launch its own Google Glass rival this September, or at least that's the word from rumour mongers.

This isn't the first time we've heard about the device which will apparently be called Gear Glass, in-keeping with Samsung's smartwatch line. Rumours about this hardware first emerged in October of last year, when tipster Eldar Murtazin said that Gear Glass would be launching in the spring of 2014 (yes, his timing was out by a bit, but what's a couple of seasons between friends)? And then we saw a relevant patent pop up a couple of weeks later...

The fresh speculation comes from Business Korea (via Tom's Guide), which claims that Samsung will unveil Gear Glass at the IFA show in September.

Rather than a full set of specs, Google Glass style, as you can see from the image above, Samsung's effort will simply be an earpiece with an arm that extends out to hold the display in front of your eye (or rather just to the side). In other words, it's less a set of glasses, and more like a chunky Bluetooth headset with an extra bit sticking out.

Of course, this is all still rumour-ville, and nothing else is divulged in terms of actual technical details. But it's an interesting development to mull, for sure – would such a design be more palatable than Google Glass is currently?

It's certainly a lot more compact, but probably doesn't make you look any less silly on balance, if Samsung is thinking that a smaller device might be more mass market-friendly in terms of aesthetic appeal. There's also the fact that Google Glass is going to change from its current rather geeky, clunky look to something sleeker given that Luxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses, is now involved with Google's specs.

Probably the biggest danger for Google is that Samsung beats its device to the shelves. Google is aiming to have Glass out before 2014 ends, but if Samsung unveils its Gear Glass at IFA, it could well have them on sale shortly thereafter, and potentially steal some of Google's thunder.

How acceptable any of these Glass-style devices will be to the mass market, though, is pretty debatable right now.